Yallop Named to Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame

[Grizzly]

There is no doubt that Yallop should be eventually named to the Hall. However, does anyone else find it wrong timing to be inducted while national team coach particularly just after being eliminated from WCQ.

Yallop to enter Hall of Fame

TORONTO (CP) - Canadian World Cup coach Frank Yallop, former FIFA referee Sonia Denoncourt and builder Steve Stavro are among the class of 11 announced Sunday for the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame.

Induction ceremonies are scheduled for April 30, 2005, at the Hall of Fame in Vaughan, just north of Toronto. It marks the sixth induction class, bringing the total number of inductees to 77.

Yallop is being inducted as a player, but he joins former national team coaches Don Petrie, Tony Waiters and Bob Lenarduzzi - also selected as a player - in the Hall. Canadian under-19 women's coach Ian Bridge was a member of the 2003 induction class as a player.

Former Canadian international and interim national coach Colin Miller joins Yallop, who is currently in Guatemala preparing for a World Cup qualifying match Wednesday, in the Hall as a player.

Others being inducted in the player category are Wes McLeod, Terry Moore, Garry Ayre, Norman McLeod and Michelle Ring. Also entering the Hall is the late Sam Chedgzoy, a former England international who played and coached in Montreal from 1930 to 1940 and continued to live in Montreal after he retired.

The three builders are Stavro, who was president of the Toronto City Soccer Club in the old Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League, Denoncourt, and Georges Schwartz, a former member of the FIFA Amateur Committee and prominent Quebec soccer official.

The Westminster (B.C.) Royals of 1928, national champions that year, become the third "team of distinction" to enter the Hall. The Royals were voted team of the half-century in 1950 by The Canadian Press.

Royals goalkeeper Stanley Ball, now 99, lives in Toronto.

Yallop played 52 times for Canada and 316 games for Ipswich Town over 14 seasons in England. He went on to play for the Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer from 1996 to 1998 before turning to coaching.

Miller, who collected 61 caps for Canada, helped the Toronto Blizzard reach the NASL final in 1983 and 1984 before moving to Britain to play for Glasgow Rangers, Doncaster Rovers, Hamilton Academicals, Hearts and Dunfermline Athletic.

Like Miller, McLeod (Tampa Bay Rowdies), Moore (San Diego Sockers, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Tulsa Roughnecks), and Ayre (Vancouver Whitecaps, New York Cosmos and Portland Timbers) also played in the North American Soccer League.

McLeod was a five-time NASL all-star who played 18 times for Canada and represented his country at the 1976 Olympics.

Moncton-born Moore is the first player from the Maritimes to be inducted. He was a member of the Canadian team that qualified for the Olympic quarter-finals in 1984, losing to Brazil on penalty kicks.

Ayre played 21 times for Canada and like McLeod was a member of the 1976 World Cup team in Montreal.

McLeod was a member of the 1957 World Cup team and toured the old Soviet Union with the national team in 1960. Michelle Ring, the fourth female player to be inducted, played 45 times for Canada, including the 1995 World Cup in Sweden.

Sam Chedgzoy represented England eight times and made 300 appearances for Everton over 11 seasons. He came to Canada in 1924 while still an Everton player to coach the Grenadier Guards team, returning in 1930 to become player-coach of Montreal Carsteel, one of the top Canadian teams of that decade.

In 1939 at the age of 50 he played in the Canadian Cup final and continued to live in Montreal until his death in 1967.

Stavro, best known as former owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, is a life member of the Canadian Soccer Association. A lifelong soccer fan, he was president of the International Soccer League of Ontario in 1959 and, in 1961, helped form the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer

League and owned the Toronto City team.

In 1967 he was a member of a group that formed the United Soccer Association (USA), the fore-runner of the NASL, and owned the Toronto City franchise. He later promoted international exhibition games in Toronto.

Denoncourt refereed the Olympic final in Sydney in 2000 between Norway and the United States. She also officiated at the 1995, 1999 and 2003 women's World Cups. She retired from top-flight officiating earlier this year.

Schwartz has long been a key administrator in Quebec soccer and was a commentator for the CBC's French Network at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

[backstick]

And I thought the NHL Hall of Fame was easy to get in to...and has anyone had a chuckle at the fact that there's a builder's category?

[juaninho]

quote:Originally posted by backstick

And I thought the NHL Hall of Fame was easy to get in to...and has anyone had a chuckle at the fact that there's a builder's category?

May go some ways to explain why Canada is such fertile ground for comedians. Our comedy is even institutionalised!

[Bertuzzi44]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

Yallop played 52 times for Canada and 316 games for Ipswich Town over 14 seasons in England. He went on to play for the Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer from 1996 to 1998 before turning to coaching.

I respect what Yallop has done for Canadian soccer, and I agree with is inclusion to the Canadian Soccer hall of fame

[The Beaver]

Here, here!!

And here's to more great contributions to Canadian soccer.

[Daniel]

While I believe he should be there, there is something very incestuous/pat-on-the-back-from-the-old-boys-even-though-we-failed-to-get-out-of-the-semis going on. They should have waited until he was no longer coach. What happens if he eventually belongs there as a coach? One can hope.

[Glenn]

quote:Originally posted by Daniel

While I believe he should be there, there is something very incestuous/pat-on-the-back-from-the-old-boys-even-though-we-failed-to-get-out-of-the-semis going on. They should have waited until he was no longer coach. What happens if he eventually belongs there as a coach? One can hope.

Well, Bob Lenarduzzi's there as a coach and a player, so I guess Yallop could be, too.

As far as the builders category goes, there's definitely a place for it. Say what you will about today's MNT, the women's teams are very strong, and it's far too easy to forget what was accomplished in Canada in the past. Organizing the CSA (and its predecessors) in a country the size of Canada before the Internet and jet travel wouldn't have been an easy task.

One final note: I hope Stanley Ball is able to make it out to the induction ceremony or, if it's (understandably) a little too much for his 99-year-old frame, I hope the CSA gives him a nice plaque for the mantel. He's probably got more Canandian soccer history inside him than every sports hall of fame combined.

[Grizzly]

My point is exactly what Daniel states. Yallop hasn't even been retired as a player all that long so there was certainly no hurry to nominate him to the hall. I would support his inclusion as a player (we will have to wait to see whether his coaching stint should be included) at some point. This is the wrong time though.

[Grizzly]

As far as Lenarduzzi's inclusion goes, I support his inclusion as a player and could see him also as a builder because he has done a lot for soccer in Vancouver. However, there is no way he should be in the Hall as a coach. I guess it is hard to nominate someone for only one category when he has done both jobs even if his abilities in one category were vastly superior to the other. I assume the Hall and the CSA have fairly tight ties so it would also be some admission of a hiring mistake if a successful player who became an unsuccessful coach is not included in both categories. At least in the case of Yallop they won't have to worry about this because he is already inducted as a player and if he doesn't improve as a coach they don't have to do anything and if he improves they can induct him again. Still don't think that that is a reason to induct him now.

[Glenn]

Re. Yallop going in as a player right now -- I think we could probably find a better choice for this particular year. Nothing against his credentials, but it does smack of cronyism, especially given the past few months. Then again, nominations were received by July 31, long before everything went belly up. I'm not sure when the final decisions were made, but it's a little awkward the way things worked out. Interesting note -- no one may be nominated while holding office at the provincial, national, or international level. Guess manager isn't an office 'round these parts...

[DarnCherry]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

As far as Lenarduzzi's inclusion goes, I support his inclusion as a player and could see him also as a builder because he has done a lot for soccer in Vancouver. However, there is no way he should be in the Hall as a coach.

"The winningest coach in Vancouver sports history, Lenarduzzi guided the 86ers to six straight first place finishes, four consecutive CSL Championships, and a North American sports record 46-game undefeated streak."

Yeah what a crappy coach.

[Grizzly]

I don't think coaches should be considered Hall of Fame material for CSL results. It was great that we had a national league but it was a pretty poor level of play and a completely unbalanced league. Teams were added and removed in almost every offseason. Vancouver was one of the few stable teams with a decent budget. In a typical year only one or two other teams were even competitive with the 86ers. The only high level coaching job Lenarduzzi ever had was as national coach and in this position he was an absolute failure. Under him we missed WC qualification twice, his player selection was the old boys network and his tactical abilities were far below international standards. He was one of the worst choices for national team coach in recent memory.

[DarnCherry]

This is the Canadian soccer hall of fame we are talking about, if coaching Canadian domestic soccer doesn't count that would be pretty ridiculous. Just because you don't think much the CSL and A-League (Lenarduzzi coached there with success as well) doesn't mean that his success doesn't count. If only national team coaching counts then we'd have very few people in the coaching category for the Canadian soccer hall of fame.

I suppose that all the records Domenic Mobilio set scoring goals in the CSL and A-League should eliminate him as a player entering the hall of fame if we are to disregard his accomplishmenst in the same leagues?

[Grizzly]

The CSL may have been the domestic league at the time but one also has to be honest about the level of play, competitiveness and how the league was run. Mobilio would be entered due to his national team achievements. I doubt many players would be nominated to the Hall based solely on success in the CSL (or A league for that matter) without achieving something at a higher level of play. Do you think a top scorer in CSL would ever be considered for the Hall if he never scored a goal for our national team and never made it to a higher level of play?

I don't think there should be many people in the coaching category because we have hardly had any great Canadian soccer coaches let alone very many good ones. We have had far more top notch players than coaches in Canada. There were several players in the CSL who showed the ability to perform at a higher level when given the chance. Lenarduzzi did not show the ability to coach at a higher level when he got his chance. Just from a purely gut level it is hard for me to see him in the hall as coach when I remember his reign as one of the most incompetent coaching displays from one of our national team coaches.